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Dealers Choice ? by Amber Dean

Once again Amber has let her opinion creep into her writing

Texas Hold‘em is the reason for the poker boom. Every night in thousands of places besides casinos, people are playing Texas Hold’em. It’s what we play at our home game twice a week. It’s what the big boys play on television. The game has made poker what it is today. But sometimes I get tired of playing hold’em and I long for the days of dealers choice.

Dealer’s choice games were like old west shoot outs. You never knew what game the next dealer would call, how high the stakes would get, or what could possibly happen next. Unlike our dealer dedicated Hold’em games, you had to really pay attention to who was dealing, what the bets were, and what game you were playing or you could be short stacked in no time.

Our dealer’s choice games were always full of surprises. Featuring wacky games like baseball (3s and 9s wild, extra card on a four), five card draw with jacks or better to open and trips to win , no peek seven card stud, guts, in-between, and even regular five card stud, the games always felt like doom or glory was infused in every card, every game, and every dealer. With wild cards, pot sized bets, and paying for extra cards, the action was always loose.

Now we play hold’em. Yippee. The game is as fun as any of the other games we used to play, but sometimes it becomes so predictable. The strategies and plays are endless, but sometimes I find myself sitting at the table getting nothing but crap cards watching the big stack push everyone else around and getting bored. The bad beats, the lucky river rats, the betting structure, and just hold’em in general sometimes just seems boring and I want to play a little dealer’s choice.

I cannot go to a casino and play dealer’s choice. A home game is the only opportunity I have to play dealer’s choice, but no one is playing anymore. There are thousands or card games you can play at a poker table, why have we all settled on one game all the time? Because Hold’em is the game that everyone plays and the game that everyone knows and the game that made the World Series of Poker what it is today. Yadda, yadda, yadda, I get it. But don’t let that stop you from having a dealer’s choice night once in awhile. Ask your players. Perhaps a night of dealer’s choice is what they have been longing for and there is nowhere else they can get that but at a home game.